The Zombify Model Lifecycle Field Guide
AI models do not live forever. Your production app needs to know when they start dying.
Field notes for developers, indie hackers, agencies and product teams running AI models that might already be dying. Learn how deprecations, shutdown dates, hardcoded model IDs and zombie models turn into production incidents.
Deprecated model checker
Check a model ID before it becomes the thing that breaks your release.
Run the triage → PRODUCTION RISKHardcoded model ID risk
Model IDs in config, prompts and agent routes are dependencies with expiry dates.
Find where it hides → TERMINOLOGYModel deprecation vs model depreciation
The typo is common. The production risk is real.
Name the threat → CORE GUIDEAI model deprecation monitoring
Why models die, where notices hide and how production apps get caught.
Read why models die → PUBLIC RECORDThe model Graveyard
Deprecated, retired and zombie models already haunting production stacks.
Visit the Graveyard →Production dependency, not trivia
This is not theory. These are production dependencies.
If your app calls a specific model ID, that model has a lifecycle. Zombify turns that lifecycle risk into a checker, Graveyard, watchlist and alert workflow so teams can spot model shutdowns before users find them first.